Another kick. "Get the portal."
Luella’s breathing was labored. All of her awareness honed in on the throbbing pain in her wrist, her ruined ankle, and her swollen body. Could she die from this? She felt like she could.
Maybe…
Death would be a mercy.
"Get Ambrose for a portal…"
The Umbra spoke to each other. She was dimly aware of their words.
"The Tenebrae is waiting."
The thing she was aware of next was hands under her, rolling her onto her back. She stared up at the canopy of the trees, darkened by the thick storm clouds.
The moon was long hidden. She envied it.
Thunder rippled through the forest, echoed by bolts of lightning.
"Leave before… the storm breaks?—"
Their tones grew worried.
Luella smiled dully.
And the storm finally—finally—broke free.
It didn’t start as a soft, lazy drizzle. It went straight into a fearsome deluge. It fell upon them all in glass-like shards, pelting their skin.
They growled, cursing.
The sense of relief she felt was unparalleled—a piece of her eased from the storm’s shattering break. She didn’t realize how tense she’d been, holding it back, but now that it was here, she felt like she could finallybreatheagain.
A face appeared above hers, angry and familiar.
The male from the cliff.
His lips moved, forming words. "Caught you, bitch."
She tried to open her mouth and say something, but could only manage a stuttering gasp. His lips split into a grin.
Another Umbra called, "Ambrose, we must hurry."
The male before her—Ambrose—pulled away, looming over her. She blinked, water clinging to her lashes. She could barely see through the thick sheets of rain falling from the sky. It washed away the blood from her skin.
"Drag her. If she can’t walk, we won’t fucking accommodate her," Ambrose said harshly.
One of the Umbra hissed, "He will not want her hurt further."
Ambrose growled, storming to the Umbra who’d spoken and wrapping a hand around his throat. He slammed the Umbra back into a tree, one hand placed on his chest, finger tapping against his collarbone. "Do notevertell me what to do."
The Umbra faltered for a moment, until:
"You will pay for this later." The voice was different. As if someone else had spoken through the Umbra, using him as a vessel.
Luella watched as Ambrose made a fist and punched straight through the other Umbra’s chest, bone cracking as he reached right inside him and pulled free his heart. It was threaded with darkness. Ambrose threw the heart to the ground. The Umbra wheezed, and as Ambrose withdrew his bloodied hand, he dropped to the ground, gaping hole in his chest.
Ambrose wiped the blood on his pants, carefully cleaning all of it away. Luella found that odd.
